Although the world continues to be fascinated by the Titanic tragedy, the most amazing drama of those fateful hours took place on the decks of the Carpathia and Californian, which were 58 and barely 10 miles, respectively, from the Titanic when they picked up her distress signals. The captain of one chose to take his ship into dangerous waters to answer the call for help, while the other decided that the hazard was too great. Daniel Allen Butler tells this story, moving from ship to ship in real time as they traveled on the icy waters of the North Atlantic to recount how hundreds could have been rescued, but in the end how only a few people outside of the meager lifeboats were saved.